4 Foods That Are “Secretly” Making You Fat

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Fattening foods

I’m gonna let you in on a little secret… about fattening foods, they are everywhere!

You’ve been lied to all your life about healthy foods.  It’s probably come from numerous people too…your parents, the lunch lady at school or even the USDA… They’ve all been pushing processed foods on you and claiming them as “health foods”

The truth is, most of what you think is healthy, is actually the EXACT food that’s making you fat!

I’ve seen it time & time again with my clients, that when they cut out bread, dairy, crappy breakfast foods & soda the following ALWAYS happens

  • they lose fat
  • they feel 100% better
  • they have more energy
  • they no longer have a “foggy” or “cloudy” head during the day
  • their mood improves

You may not agree with this list 100%, but it works.  If you’re sick of carrying around extra fat, then try cutting the following foods from your diet for 2 weeks and see what happens.  Change is always encountered by a little resistance.  That’s why its not so easy to change (and that’s why so many people are out of shape).

Let’s get right to it…

The Fattening Foods…

#1 Bread

If you’re trying to lose fat & get stronger, then the bread in the cupboard or on top of the fridge needs to go!  I allow myself a sandwich or some toast occasionally post workout, but when I’m trying to get lean, the bread is the first to go from my house.

sandwich

The reason bread makes you fat is just like any other high glycemic food.  It triggers your insulin response and creates a vicious cycle of you being hungry for more starchy carbs which in turn makes you fat.

Not only will bread make you fat, but it will make you tired and causes stomach problems for some people.  I don’t care if your bread is whole grain, protein enhanced or plain ‘ole wonder bread…get rid of it if you want to lose fat.

#2 Dairy

The Dairy Association Of America has spent over $200 million dollars trying to convince us that dairy is essential for bone growth & that without it we’ll all turn into little frail marathon runners.

Guess what?  It’s all bullshit.

I’ve looked around forever and have yet to find a credible study that says dairy is needed to build “strong bones”.  One study actually showed that exercise, not dairy was overwhelmingly responsible for bone strength in teens.  If you’re worried about calcium intake, stick to almonds, salmon, spinach and any other green leafy vegetable.  You’ll get more than enough… (here’s a list of non-dairy calcium rich foods)

Eliminate all milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese and any other dairy products from your meals and you’ll see a MASSIVE improvement.

If I had to pick, dairy & bread make the biggest differences by far when it comes to losing fat.

If you’re used to eating a lot of dairy, this might not happen overnight.  But try to ween yourself off it as soon as possible, because you’ll notice a BIG difference on the scale and with how your body looks.

#3 Carb-Loaded Breakfast Foods

The traditional American breakfast is very carb dependent. 

Waffles, muffins, pancakes, and cereal are all pretty common staples in most people’s diets.  This does not lend itself well to fat loss.  My friend and expert nutritionist Joel Marion says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day when you’re on a fat loss quest because “it sets the tone for the rest of the day”

waffle

If you eat like crap at breakfast you’re gonna be much more likely to eat like crap for lunch and dinner as well.  But if you eat a good breakfast, then you won’t want to screw up your good day by eating a bunch of junk for lunch and dinner.  Your day depends on the meal you start with, so make it count.

For breakfast, some of my favorite meals are eggs, veggie omelets and fresh smoothies (banana, strawberry, blueberry).

#4 Soda (diet soda too)

Soda is LOADED with sugar (39 g) and high fructose corn syrup.  Check out what my friend Isabel has to say about HFCS in sodas:

A lot of people rely on soda & energy drinks because they think it helps them have more energy.  But what you’re really getting is a sugar high for 20 minutes and then a huge crash that will leave you tired and unable to focus.

Do you know what makes you have more energy? 

Eating real, natural foods and doing high-intensity circuit training or strength training.  I’ve seen it SO MANY times with my personal clients.  They can’t believe how much more energy they have after cutting the crap foods & drinks out of their diet and actually getting off their butt and doing some physical activity.

If you’re a diet soda drinker you’re probably thinking “this doesn’t have any calories, so it’s not gonna make me fat”.

Well, that’s WRONG too!  

Some nutritionists believe diet soda is actually worse for you than regular soda!  The big problem with diet soda is the artificial sweetener used in them.  Your body takes in these artificial chemicals and its first reaction is to try and flush them out.

While your organs are working overtime to get rid of this junk, it could have been burning fat from your body.  Ditch the soda, and you’ll probably lose 3-5 lbs in a month just from that small change alone…

What You Need To Do About Fattening Foods

If your diet consists of a lot of these foods, you’re probably wondering what you SHOULD eat…  Well for starters check out my easy weight loss diet & also my top 10 foods for fat loss.

These posts have all of the info you need for getting started with healthy eating…

It’s not that hard, just commit to it for 2 weeks and I PROMISE you’ll see a huge difference.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you have a cool story to share leave it in the comments below!

-Terry Asher

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4 Foods That Are "Secretly" Making You Fat
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4 Foods That Are "Secretly" Making You Fat
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I'm gonna let you in on a little secret... about fattening foods, they are everywhere!
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Gym Junkies
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31 COMMENTS

  1. Vic,

    Thanks for the mention of my free report “Vacation Body Blueprint”.

    It is aimed more at the lean slim Hollywood look (Cam Gigandet, Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz, Kate Beckinsale, etc.) instead of the bigger muscle look…but even people who like to carry a bit more muscle will get something out of it.

    Cheers,

    Rusty

    • The real answer is “experience”. When I eliminate it from my diet and my clients do the same, weight loss almost always happens. My philosophical answer is, “I can’t think of another animal that drinks the milk of another animal except humans”. Something is probably not right there. . .

      That being said, the carbohydrate content of milk and other dairy will yield a similar insulin response as bread, rice, etc. and lead to an increase in bodyfat.

      What’s your take on the subject? We’re always open to intelligent discussion here at GymJunkies. Thanks!

  2. Great post Vic. In addition to the points you made in the article, I also want to add that many people are sensitive to wheat and/or dairy and don’t even know it. So cutting them down or out of their diet will make them feel way better for that reason too. I want to shake my friends who want “easy” ways to lose weight but don’t want to hear me when I tell them to stop eating processed food and sugar. Now that my taste buds have changed, real food (the kind without ingredient labels)just tastes so much better and I feel better eating it.
    ~Natalie

  3. Hey Vic. Can you post a link to the studies on artificial sweeteners? I thought they just passed right through, but if there are detrimental effects in terms of overworking your organs that’d be good to know.

    Here’s some interesting info on the overblown cancer claims: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners (approved by the The Center for Science in the Public Interest).

    Have you ever tried Stevia-based sweeteners? I know those hardcore Brazilian tribes with bones in their noses have used it for centuries – so you know it’s good!

    Dary

    PS Clearly I have an insatiable sweet tooth so I’m looking for every excuse not to cut sweeteners out of my diet!

  4. Hey Vic,

    Great post. What are your thoughts about Ezekiel Sprouted breads and cereals? They are low glycemic and are complete proteins.

    • The Ezekiel stuff is certainly a better choice. The only way to know for sure is to test and track. I know, there he goes again. . .

      But it really is the correct answer. Track your weight loss for a week while eating the Ezekial. If your weight loss continues to your satisfaction, then keep it!

    • Great point Pierre! Yes, I do drink chocolate milk as my post workout drink – sometimes. If I’m trying to get some size I drink 1 pint post workout. If I’m trying to get lean I drink 8 oz. post workout – for the first two weeks. For the final two weeks I switch to one small can of tuna and a handful of baby carrots as my post workout meal.

      The carrots, like the milk (especially chocolate) have a relatively high glycemic index which can be beneficial immediately post workout to aid in transport of nutrients. Post workout is the ONLY time I recommend this intentional blood sugar spike.

  5. My view (as well as scientific research) is if you eat ANYTHING in excess (well, apart from fruit and vegetables cos you probably couldnt eat enough) you will get fat!

    What processed foods do is make you crave more processed food. So you end up eating too much of it. Processed food being things like bread, carbs breakfasts and soda and yes, sugar Dary (I have xylitol which is low GI, so it stops that craving. I think stavia is similar?). They were saying that carb ingestion produced insulin overlaod which is the hormone that stores excess as fat (which is true, but it only gets stored as fat if your body doesnt use it for energy!), but I’ve just read that you also produce insulin when eating protein! So bang goes another theory…!! BUT the point is, if you eat ANYTHING in excess its going to get stored as fat! (see http://johnbarban.com/ and read his Diet Review e-book, as recommended by Rusty – it’s brief but informative)

    Dairy is highly calorific so best to not to eat much cheese and butter etc. Again, because if you eat too much it will store as fat.

    Calories deficit is the only way to lose weight. Eating what you expend is the only way to maintain weight. I’m convinved that all the other fad exclusions are pointless and just a drain on your will power. Eat less, move more!

    Tusc 🙂

  6. I have cut out bread, soda, most dairy, and the breakfast stuff you say is bad. Hard for me to give up my 10 oz of 1% or skim milk though. Does all this apply to us Older folks – I am 57 and find it nearly impossible to lose weight!

  7. i just found your site, and it looks great.
    i have a question about cutting dairy to lose fat. i eat a pretty good amount of dairy products to keep my protein intake high, particularly on workout days. i’m looking to get leaner…could dairy really be holding me back? how does that work.
    also, how do you make a decent protein shake without any dairy?

  8. This was a great post. The crazy thing about it is, you would think this is common knowledge. Another crazy thing about it is, you try to tell people that bread can make them fat and they come up with all kinds of “scientific” reasons why it’s not true.

    • I say screw science and go with experience. Try it for two weeks, or better yet a full 30 days, and then people can make their own judgment.

      I hope everyone who reads this site is skeptical of what I write. I hope they then try it themselves and make their own choices.

  9. I don’t understand your comments on dairy. Dairy contains pretty much no carbohydrates so you’re consuming lots of fat and protein while avoiding an insulin hormone response.

    So without the insulin being flushed through your system your body will be able to effectively utilize the fat as fuel.

    Non-organic dairy can be questionable, but I still don’t think it’s going to make you fat (unless your body can’t handle dairy).

    Of course if you believe that eating fat will make you fat, you can forget what I’ve just said!

  10. Hi Vic

    Graham here from Sydney, I love your philosophy on training and try to incorporate it as much as I can. What is your view on Carb Loading prior to a big run for example? After tomorrow, I’ll be going lean however the last few days, I’ve been eating quite a lot of pasta, baked potatoes and the like and in an hour from now, will demolish a large serving of Fettuccine Marinara and possibly a garlic bread for my 9K run tomorrow.

    Cheers

    Graham

    • Hi Graham,
      I have zero experience training for or training others for endurance events. There’s my moment of honesty before my comments. . .

      I don’t think a 9k run is long enough to warrant carb loading. I’m guessing you’re looking at about an hour of exercise there, and I think you need to be looking at several hours of exertion to justify stacking your glycogen reserves.

      Again, I’m being an arm chair quarterback on this one. But those are my thoughts.
      ~ Vic

  11. Wow, I try so hard to limit the dairy in my diet, but it is to me what carbs are to most people. I don’t crave bread or chips or anything like that, but I jones hard for cheese and ice cream. Otherwise, I am off milk, use hemp milk instead.

    • If you can switch to hemp milk, you can definitely ween yourself off of the cheese and ice cream. Start by trying to limit the quantity you eat and see how it goes from there. Good luck.

  12. From experience, I suggest you don’t be too fussy with the fatty foods once your weight is almost standard. Of course lay off the Fast Food e.g McDonalds or KFC, they’re bad for all of us folks. But, remember to always do exercise, it will surely always make you feel better and look better 😉

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